THE CLUBHOUSE

Freaking brilliant! Nature is the resource of the crafty modeler!

An aside: My large diorama dino-bases back in the Old Country Summer home are heavy as all hey ... because the rocks Gorilla-glued onto them - were hand-picked by me - from our yard!!!

bucketfoot-al wrote: ↑August 17th, 2025, 3:19 am Freaking brilliant! Nature is the resource of the crafty modeler!

That is a very true statement. Being an artist Ive always believed that we tend to see things that others simply don't. But thanx! I'm really happy with the result. So happy I went back to lake today and gathered about 20 more pieces for future projects and I don't just see rocks but a lot of dead trees (pun intended). Thank you Mother Nature.


Whats ironic about it is any one of these could have easily became a fossil. I just took Father Time out of the equation. Did anyone else grow up wading in the creek and collecting 'Indian Money'?

The creek on our farm was too deep & muddy to wade in, but I did search the fields for artifacts every year following the spring plowing.

A little more progress. Taking my sweet time.

Congrats on this. It's fun to see someone tackle a project with this kind of childlike (not childish!) enthusiasm. And your documenting of it is great!

Thanx.

Ok! Sooo... In the 21 years Ive been hanging out here I have learned a lot from the fellow clubbers. Ive always love kit-bashing, conversions and generally just making something my own. Ive learned about how resin kits are made, and now 3-d printing and a whole slew of stuff regarding the hobby. Today I threw down a little on some mold making silicone and two part resin because I want to teach myself on making my own stuff. I think this is gonna be fun! We shall see!

Nice! Took the plunge myself recently - you'll be glad you did. Now every time I build a kit that has an accessory that could be used on other kits, I make a mold of it.

Weekend update..... I ordered a 2-part silicone for molds and a 2-part resin for casting. This stuff is expensive so since this my 1st time I went with 'Amazons Choice'. Still dropped $50+ And of course my impatience kicked in and I dived straight into the deep end! I thought the silicone was colored but it was clear. But I was able to see what was happening so, cool! The resin was also clear but I added a few drops of food coloring. Worked great! The leave fronds were not well thought out but I'll make use of them. Watching Mark Kriess's tutorial video's I used smaller parts to make use of extra resin I ended of with. Sooo the molds..





The cast's. These turned out really good and look like the 'Hard Candy' my folks would make every X-mas. Just kayro syrup and food coloring...Hmmmm.





And finally some primer to get a real good look. Lots of air bubbles but no biggie.



My final thought. Exspensive. Messy. A little aggravating. But a whole lotsa FUN! For my 1st time I'm pretty happy with it all. I can make my own stuff now!

I need to dip my toe into casting, but I am still in the midst of decision paralysis. Can't decide on what to use.
I need to duplicate a base like 13 times.

EXCELLENT! Congratulations on expanding your hobby skills!!!

Thanx for the replies guys. If I may ask Trevor, what base are you wanting to replicate?

It's just a small round base for the super-tiny-terrors.


I bought a bunch of the kits this year at WF from Terry. But only a few had bases, so I need bases for the rest.

As far as a mold that shouldn't be hard. I bet you could use a jar lid and a tube of clear silicone like for caulking windows. Would be a cheap experiment.....

overspray wrote: ↑August 21st, 2025, 2:11 pm Nice! Took the plunge myself recently - you'll be glad you did. Now every time I build a kit that has an accessory that could be used on other kits, I make a mold of it.

Would love to hear/see your input as a newb as well. This is fun stuff!

Glusniffer wrote: ↑August 28th, 2025, 10:35 pm As far as a mold that shouldn't be hard. I bet you could use a jar lid and a tube of clear silicone like for caulking windows. Would be a cheap experiment.....

No, it shouldn't be hard at all. It's just deciding what I want to make it with.

So moving along.. I thought I would try molding and casting a Cro-woman base. I took the time to to invest in some reusable stuff. Made of silicone also and pretty cheap. You can turn these inside-out to clean both the silicone and resin.






So this will be my weekend project. I've molded some cool parts. Now to to put the parts together.... \

Keep going!! Loving the side track this build went off on!!!